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Most of you have probably heard of the phantom limb sensation, which is what amputees sometimes complain of feeling after losing a limb. Described as painful by many, people say it feels as if the amputated limb is still there, even though it clearly isn’t.
Though certainly not nearly as unfortunate, another phantom phenomenon has been making the news lately: phantom BlackBerry vibrations. That’s when you feel like your PDA or beeper is vibrating even when it isn’t. I know this phenomenon all too well and often find myself digging hastily through my many pockets to locate my Treo (which has been set to vibrate since the day I bought it) even when it really isn’t buzzing.
All this got me thinking about other phantom phenomena. Here are four more that really annoy me:
Phantom Ocean Waves
This is the sensation you feel after you’ve been rocked around on a boat at sea, or even playing in the water at the beach. It’s that rolling feeling that sometimes affects you not just hours later, but DAYS later. For instance, I remember being bothered by this rolling sensation while trying to sleep at night a full week after a 2-week cruise, island hopping in Greece. Doctors have a name for the extreme version of this phantom: Mal de Debarquement Syndrome. For some unfortunate souls, it actually lasts years.
Phantom Grass Itchies
This is an odd one: after lying in the grass, I often feel the blades on my skin hours later as I’m walking around or driving in my car. And it frequently itches something awful!
Phantom Spider Webs
You walk through a spider web, struggle for ten minutes to get the darn thing off your arm (or worse, face!), and for the next couple hours, even though you could swear you got it all off, it still feels like it’s stuck to you. Blech!
Phantom Insect Bites
Need I say more? This one can be triggered simply by thinking about bugs! For instance, I was once visiting a friend in Greenwich, CT, and she suggested we put knee-high Wellington boots on to keep the ticks from getting us while we walked in her woodsy backyard. For the rest of the day I felt like I had ticks crawling all over me. Double-blech! [note: loyal _floss reader mri correctly states below that a form of this phenomenon is known as formication.]
Care to commiserate or add another to my ever-growing Phantom list?
by the way, the feeling of bugs crawling all over you has a name: formication. one letter makes alllll the difference.
posted by mri on 10-31-2007 at 7:32 am
It used to be one of my favorite things about County Fair carnival rides - to lie in bed at night and trip out to the ride all over again!!! It doesn’t seem to happen to me as an adult, but it was a guaranteed bonus as a child.
posted by bettycat on 10-31-2007 at 7:38 am
the mention of headlice makes my scalp itch. my daughter brought it home three times in grade school.
posted by Richel on 10-31-2007 at 7:40 am
Thank You!!!!! I have the very same problem with my cellphone!!!! So often i’m carrying my hand bag and go like crazy trying to find it because I could just swear I felt it vibrate only to find it in sleep mode like it’s nothing with “Him”… So good to feel I’m not alone…
what about the phantom Lice? experiment talking about lice (yes it’s not a easy topic to bring: “how about them Lice!” is not a coffebreak talk) in a croud and suddenly notice how many start scraching their heads. It’s almost scientific (I said almost!).
posted by FromPortugal on 10-31-2007 at 7:46 am
going skating … i feel like i’m still gliding along on the skates for hours afterward.
posted by greatleap on 10-31-2007 at 8:05 am
Anytime I get around ants I have phantom ant bites for a while. I also have a roller coaster sensation for a day or so after visiting an amusement park.
posted by Jeremiah on 10-31-2007 at 8:34 am
Phantom hairs falling off my head and onto my neck and shoulders.
posted by Latrobe on 10-31-2007 at 8:49 am
When I lived in Sicily for a summer I didn’t have my cell phone, but I would swear I felt it vibrate in my purse and reach for it. It was extremely creepy!
posted by Kelly on 10-31-2007 at 9:18 am
My father lost a finger when he was around 20 years old. He says every once in a while he “feels” it. I believe they call this “phantom limb”.
posted by lbarton on 10-31-2007 at 9:36 am
Another good phantom feeling occurs after you’ve been running on the treadmill for a while. You get off and still feel like you’re walking on a moving platform. Bizarre.
posted by wonderkim on 10-31-2007 at 9:47 am
If I even think about spiders too long, I will feel them crawling all over me. Ugh! I think I can feel them now. I gotta go.
posted by Phil on 10-31-2007 at 10:08 am
I once walked face first into a HUGE spider web hanging from a tree. It took about three days to not feel it and to this day, i avoid walking under trees when i can and sometimes still get the feeling of the web on my face when I think about it.
posted by Sheldon Siegel on 10-31-2007 at 10:18 am
All this talk about phantom lice has made my head itch… And now my eyebrows are starting to crawl also… This is horrible.
posted by GTT on 10-31-2007 at 10:34 am
I recall feeling like I still had skates on after rollerskating for a few hours. The feeling ususally went away after a short bit though. In fact, I remember mentioning this and having others claim the same experience.
posted by DJ on 10-31-2007 at 11:06 am
Hey Kelly, I know the phantom cell phone vibrate feeling. Now, I don’t typically carry a purse being a guy an’ all (not there’s anything wrong with that), but sometimes I swear it “feels” like someone’s calling me and I reach into my pocket for my phone and realize it’s not there… Weird!
posted by Fletch on 10-31-2007 at 11:25 am
i hate that feeling that you have a hair or fiber on your tongue even when you don’t. gah! and i definitely remember everyone scratching their heads when the nurse came to check for headlice in elementary school.
posted by Calamity Kate on 10-31-2007 at 11:36 am
What about “phantom lifting”…
when you carry something heavy for a while, and then when you put it down your arms rise on their own to a strange position. Kinda like muscle memory, I guess.
You can also try this by standing in a doorway with your arms spread out against the frame and pushing out for several minutes. When you leave the doorway, you’ll look stoopid.
posted by RosiePerez on 10-31-2007 at 11:50 am
Glasses. I wear glasses most of the time. But when I do have them off, I will reach up to adjust them and be surprised to see I am not wearting them. This was worse with my last pair - which didn’t fit as well as the ones I wear now.
posted by Elizabeth on 10-31-2007 at 12:00 pm
How about the phantom itch that “moves” when you try to scratch it? I get that all the time–you think you know where it is, but you scratch that place, and it’s migrated somewhere else.
posted by frumpiefox on 10-31-2007 at 12:03 pm
I have a phantom light on my desk phone and I am not the only one to have noticed.
I love the phantom car drifting away when your car is not moving but something else around you is (in a car wash) and it appears the car is moving..
posted by mark on 10-31-2007 at 3:01 pm
Elizabeth- I get the phantom glasses thing a lot! I have worn glasses for most of my life. I typically only take them off when I’m showering or going to bed, but sometimes when they’re off, I’ll either push up the phantom bridge of the glasses or if my eye itches, I’ll sneak my finger underneath the phantom lens to get to it. Weird, huh?
posted by Erin S. on 10-31-2007 at 3:22 pm
My cat, jumping up on my bed at night is one of those strange sensations — strange, because she’s been dead for six months, now. One might believe it’s her earthbound spirit, seeking comfort and solitude with her beloved owner. One might also believe it’s just a phantom feline effect.
(I prefer to think it’s the former!)
posted by buddz on 10-31-2007 at 6:27 pm
Whenever I have to pull ticks off my dog I can feel them crawling on me for hours afterward… gross…
posted by Katie on 10-31-2007 at 8:50 pm
elizabeth- I get the phantom glasses thing all the time. It’s a nervouse habit of mine to do that and I feel like an idiot whenever I do that and forget I’m not wearing them.
posted by heather on 11-1-2007 at 1:01 am
Mine is the phantom raindrop. Sometimes when I am driving in the rain, I feel a raindrop or two hit my hands, legs and/or face.
posted by t1ki on 11-1-2007 at 1:01 am
I do the glasses thing ALL the time! I also get that creepy feeling anytime I look at, think about, or see pictures of bugs. I’m getting it right now.
posted by greenstrawberries on 11-1-2007 at 1:39 am
Similar to the cellphone vibrating, for a while now, most people hear “phantom ringtones”….they are so used to hearing phones ring, they hear that sound in music, or just randomly.
I know I have….
posted by Amanda on 11-1-2007 at 2:33 am
I’m pretty relieved to know that I wasn’t the only one who experienced phantom cell phone vibrations! It doesn’t happen as much lately, but it did all the time last summer, especially at work. It was really weird.
posted by Michelle on 11-1-2007 at 9:38 am
I used to work at a restaurant that used pagers to inform servers that their food was ready to take out. I found myself reaching for the place on my belt where I kept the pager. Even after I was home and miles away from the elctronics. I think we have a lot to learn about ionizing radiation and its effects on the bioelectrics of the human body.
posted by BC on 11-1-2007 at 11:38 am
My grandfather was missing a middle finger. Even after 30 years he would occasionally drop something because he forgot to reposition his remaining fingers to get a good grip.
After a long bike ride when I was a kid, I would have a tendency to walk as if I was still pedalling. Sort of a Monty Python silly walk.(haha)
I have a nervous system disorder. Sometimes I get a phantom poking, or jabbing sensation in my legs and the muscles twitch in response, but then when I do get poked in the leg I don’t feel an appropriate sensation. I bruised my knees while changing sparkplugs in my car because I didn’t realize I was banging my knees against the bumper.
posted by Tdave on 11-2-2007 at 12:07 am
Does anyone know what causes these phantom sensations? I understand the phantom limb sensations more-or-less, but some of the others leave me scratching my head (and not because you mentioned lice).
posted by Trena on 11-2-2007 at 11:16 am
My musician ex-boyfriend had the evil idea to compose music for his band that would have tones embedded to resemble ringtones at an almost subliminal level. I don’t think he ever did, but I would have liked to watch the audience at that gig.
posted by thebrokedown on 11-2-2007 at 11:03 pm
Mine is the phantom watch syndrome. You know; the one where you forget your watch but you can still feel it. You even look at your arm for the time knowing full well that your watch isn’t there.
posted by Crystal on 12-26-2007 at 1:52 pm
I have a cordless mouse and I constantly think the low battery light is blinking when it’s not.
Buddz (#22), I had a cat who really did haunt my house growing up. Friends saw him, as did family. So your cat “visiting” is not as far-fetched as you might think. :)
posted by SaDiablo on 1-24-2008 at 5:03 am